FCPS brings back summer learning in 2021 with ‘Summer Ignite’

Dear Fayette County Public Schools Families:

Having our students back on campus has been a joy! Our new safety routines are working well, and our students have become pros at adapting.

We hope everyone will continue those good habits during Spring Break, so we can keep the numbers of new COVID-19 cases in our community down. As we take cautious steps toward a feeling of normal, it may be tempting to return to the habits and behaviors we enjoyed pre-COVID, but experts continue to caution that it is not safe to do so yet.

Now that we have cleared the hurdle of returning all of our students whose families have chosen in-person learning back to campus, we can shift some of our attention to promoting summer learning opportunities.

Fayette County Public Schools is excited to announce that our schools will offer a program called Summer Ignite to supplement student learning.

When we return in April, schools will begin sharing specific information with their families. Each school has been working to design a Summer Ignite program aligned to their individual school offerings in order to best serve their students. As you know, in Kentucky, this determination falls within the responsibility of each School-Based Decision Making Council.

Summer Ignite will operate during three sessions:

• Session 1 – June 8–June 25
• Session 2 – July 6-July 23
• Session 3 – July 26-30 for students entering kindergarten, sixth grade and ninth grade

Hours of each session will be:

• Elementary programs will run from 8 a.m. to noon.
• Middle and high school programs will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Decisions about what the program will look like and which students will be invited to participate are determined by the SBDM at each school, led by the school principal. Priority will be placed on:

• Students whose achievement data shows the need for additional learning opportunities in order to be prepared for the 2021-22 school year,
• Students in need of credit recovery, and
• Students who may need an opportunity to extend learning through inquiry and project-based learning to enhance skills and content knowledge.

As a district, Fayette County Public Schools is supporting Summer Ignite by:

• Providing materials and resources for schools,
• Setting a shared schedule,
• Creating a planning framework for schools,
• Coordinating transportation for students,
• Recruiting community partners for schools,
• Serving breakfast and lunch to students,
• Investing federal stimulus funding to cover the cost of staffing, including coordinators at each location and increased pay to help attract staff for the program.

I encourage anyone with questions about the program that might be available to your child to look for additional communication from the school. You can also visit www.fcps.net/ignite.

We are excited for you to see and hear the innovative ideas our schools have developed to meet the needs of the children who will be served! We are fortunate in Fayette County Public Schools to have such a wide variety of learning options available to help students reach their unlimited potential.

Thank you for your continued support and engagement. Please have a wonderful spring break!

Sincerely,

Marlene Helm

Fayette County Public Schools Acting Superintendent